A Christmas Gift for Mom
by DryadSpeaks
Summary: Spinoff of All My Dreams Chapter 64 and The Smile on Your Face Chapter 47.  Artie and Quinn make a beautiful Christmas gift for Artie's mom.  This oneshot is heavy on the Quartie bonding and love!


"Ok, we need to get going on this. We've only got three or so hours before she's back. Do you have any idea what it cost me to convince Michael that he absolutely needed to go to that sport warehouse store in Newberry today? I've relinquished my TV selection privileges for the next three months!"

Quinn grinned, as she carried the heavy frame to the dining room table. "You should have convinced Linds she needed to go somewhere...she would have done it for free!"

Artie sighed. "Yeah, but if she found out what was going on here, she'd probably accidentally tell Mom. Keeping secrets isn't one of her well-developed skills. And she had a birthday party or something today at someone's house. Besides, Mom had been talking about taking Michael anyway, and it just seemed to fit. I guess I'm going to be watching a LOT of...I don't even know what he watches..." he trailed off, grimacing.

"Well, maybe I can find some things to keep you occupied for the next three months," Quinn said, trying her best to look seductive...not an easy task when one is carrying a huge picture frame.

Artie grinned. "I'd be down with that. Maybe you can tell me more about that later...I'd be open to proposals of any sort."

"Proposals of any sort? What does that even mean?" Quinn asked, as she placed the frame onto the table, removing the backing, which they were going to use as the base for the collage.

"Um...yeah, that didn't come out right. What I meant was...tell me what you have planned, and I will most definitely go for it. Unless it involves something weird...or latex outfits." The red of his cheeks spread to his entire face.

"ARTIE!" Quinn said, smacking him lightly on the arm. "Latex outfits? Where did that come from?"

He lowered his head. "I have no idea. It was one of those 'oops, did I just say that out loud?' moments. Sorry."

She laughed. "Ok, let's see what you've got for pictures, and we'll get this thing laid out."

He removed the box from his lap, and placed it on the table, pulling off the lid. "I tried to get ones that we wouldn't have to cut too much. Something about cutting up family photos just seems wrong, even if they are copies and the originals are still securely in their albums."

Quinn smiled. She had seen the photos they had hanging around the house, but Artie had never actually shared the contents of the 15 or so albums on the bookcase at the foot of the stairs with her.

"I thought we could kind of go chronologically," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I wasn't really sure how that could work with a collage, but I thought maybe if we split the board into quarters, and then had each one for five years or something like that. That way, we could get their wedding pictures and stuff in there, and everything right up to now. Do you think that'll work?" he asked, looking to Quinn for some direction.

"That sounds like a great idea! This thing is big enough that we should have tons of space. How many pictures do you have here?"

He thought for a moment. "About 200, but we don't have to use them all."

200? She wasn't quite sure how they were going to use that many, but she was sure they'd figure out something. Maybe they could use the bigger ones as a base, and then cut the smaller ones and fit them into any bare spaces.

"Ok, so let's find the ones that are the biggest, and use those as a base. Then we can cut some of the other ones and fit them in. I know you don't want to cut them, but I think we're going to have to."

He grinned. "Can you do most of the cutting? At least that way I won't feel like I'm chopping up bits of family history."

She swatted him with the glue stick she was holding. "Gee, thanks for leaving the task of cutting up your family on my shoulders. I appreciate it. Really."

The first quarter of the board came together relatively easily. Artie had a picture from his parents' wedding blown up so that it could be the center piece of that section, and then they used all the other pictures that he had from that time period to build up the collage around it. By the time they were finished, Quinn marvelled at the amount of thought he had put into the collage when he selected the pictures he wanted to use.

"Artie, this looks great! You have everything so well planned out!" she said, smiling.

"Don't sound so surprised, woman!" he said, smiling back. "I'm capable of planning things and having them actually work how they were supposed to!"

"Right," she said, trying not to burst out laughing. "That's why you have a schematic diagram called 'how to bake cookies' sitting on your desk. That can't have worked out for you, or I'd be eating cookies right now."

"You weren't supposed to see that," he muttered. "I was trying to figure out the safest way to get them in the oven without setting fire to myself again."

"Wait, what? Again? You set fire to yourself?" she asked, looking concerned.

"Well...to an oven mitt while it was on my hand. So almost to myself. You can laugh now, or you're going explode trying to hold it in. Your face is totally giving you away."

She laughed, grabbing a couple of photos from the stack he had arranged for the next section of the collage. "Are your baby pictures in here?"

"Yeah, a couple. Mostly pictures of my parents, though. I don't want my face plastered all over this thing."

She noticed that he looked slightly less happy than he had a few minutes earlier, and attempted to steer him away from wherever his mind might have gone. "Last time I checked this was supposed to be a collage of your entire family, and, in case you forget, that includes you, too. Besides, if all the pictures of you are as cute as this one, we're putting them ALL OVER EVERYWHERE," she said, holding up a picture of a very young Artie dressed in a lion costume and holding a stuffed puppy.

He grinned. "Well, I was pretty cute. Somewhere there's one where I'm dressed up like a rhino. Apparently I really liked wild animals. I kind of still do."

They spent the next fifteen minutes sorting through the photos, selecting ones that definitely needed to be in, and ones that they could use to fill space once they were finished. The centerpiece picture for the second section was a family portrait taken when Artie was around two years old.

Once they were satisfied that the second section looked good, they moved on to the third. Quinn noticed Artie shifting slightly as she reached for photos from the third stack he had laid out on the table. She knew that his accident would have occurred during the time covered by that section, and she wondered what kinds of pictures he had selected, and what he had left out.

"What do you have for the center of this one?" she asked, putting down the photos she was holding.

He held up a family portrait that looked like it had been taken in their yard. The photo had clearly been taken before the accident, and everyone was smiling brightly.

"I wanted one where everyone was still happy..." he said, trailing off slightly. "You know...before."

Her heart broke a little as she watched his eyes move down towards his lap. She didn't really know what to say to him, so she stood up and wrapped her arms around him.

Taken slightly aback, he sat for a second, before wrapping his arms around her too.

"We'd better get back to this," he said, reaching for the stack of photos on the table after Quinn had released him from the hug, albeit reluctantly. "They're going to be back in about an hour and a half, I think."

They worked in silence for a few minutes, before Quinn saw Artie toss the rest of the photos aside.

"I can't do this. I thought there should be some pictures from just after, but I can't. This is supposed to be a happy thing, right? I don't want to plaster all the sad feelings that come along with these pictures on something I'm giving my mother for Christmas. I want her to look at this and be happy, and that will not happen if these pictures are on here."

"Artie..." she started, but he cut her off.

"No. I can't do this. We're just going to have to use these ones," he said, reaching for a second, smaller stack. "These are mostly post-accident, but far enough down the line that it should be ok."

"Can I see the ones you don't want to use?" she asked, moving her chair closer to where he was sitting. "Please?"

He shook his head. "No. I don't want you to see those. I don't know what I was thinking when I had them copied."

"Artie," she tried again, "please? Maybe we can find one or two that would be ok to include. Tell me if you want me to stop, but I really think it's important to have them on this. Think of them not as something that will make your mom sad, but something that will make her happy because things could have been a lot worse that day."

He sighed. "I know things could have been a lot worse, but I've seen her face when she sees these pictures. I don't want her to have those thoughts every time she looks at this. I want her to like it."

"Artie, she will like it. She'll LOVE it. I don't think I've ever seen a gift anywhere that had as much love behind it as this does. It's so beautiful." She was starting to tear up, and hoped that he wouldn't notice.

He looked over. "Are you crying?"

She smiled slightly. "Maybe. For future reference...that's not a question you ask a girl. You're supposed to put your arm around me now, tell me everything is ok, and then go through those pictures with me so we can find a couple to add. Get with the program, man!"

"Did you just call me 'man?'" he asked. "I kind of like it. Much better than when AJ says it."

She swatted him with her free hand. "Don't get too used to it, it was just to reinforce my point. Now, can I see?"

Reluctantly, he handed over the stack of photos. As Quinn flipped through them, she pulled out a couple that she thought might be ok. One was of Michael sitting on a much-younger Artie's lap, showing him a toy car of some sort, and the other was of Beth and Artie lying asleep together in Artie's hospital bed.

"That was my first wheelchair," he said, pointing to the first picture. "Michael was so excited because the wheels on the chair matched the ones on his car, or something like that. That second one was taken about three weeks after the accident. I think it was one of the few times that month that Mom actually slept for more than half an hour at a time."

"I think we should use these," she said. "And then some from that other stack. Face facts, Artie, you're part of your family, and there are going to have to be pictures of you on this!"

He grinned slightly, the look of sadness leaving his eyes. "Ok, we can use those two. And these," he said, handing over five or six that he had selected from his second pile.

As they finished up the third section of the collage, Quinn began sorting through the final stack. The first thing she noticed was that this pile had about twice as many pictures in it as the others. She wasn't sure how they were going to fit everything, or even half of what was there, but Artie answered her question before she even had a chance to ask it.

"I know, there are way too many. I thought we could fill that section of the collage, and then use the rest to make a border or something around the outside. I'm not really sure if that's going to work, or look ridiculous..." he trailed off.

"Let's see what we can do here," she said. "In lots of these ones there's more background than people, so we can probably cut most of them fairly small. I'm sorry, but we're going to have to cut up your family history." She grinned as the last words left her mouth.

He laughed. "Ok, so maybe that was a bit melodramatic," he said, reaching for a pair of scissors. "I think I'm going to have to cut off Michael's head in this one."

"We're not cutting anyone's heads off!" she said, suppressing the grin that was threatening to spread across her face. "We'll fit it somewhere. What do you have for the center of this one?"

He held up the photo, and she instantly began to protest.

"No, you can't use that one. I'm in that one!" It was a photo that had been taken a couple of weeks previously, of the entire family and Quinn sitting around the coffee table in the living room.

"I know. That's why I chose it," he said.

"But Artie, this is supposed to be of your family! I really don't think I should be anywhere in here."

"I know," he repeated. "I chose it because you're in it. If you ask anyone that lives in this house, I'm pretty sure they'll tell you that you're part of this family. Well, except Michael. He won't even admit that I'm part of this family."

She grinned. "That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Well, besides that last part about Michael."

His face turned red. "I should have stopped before that came out. Sorry. Are you...wait, never mind," he said, reaching out to take her hand.

"Yes, I'm crying," she said, "but this time it's because I'm happy. In case you wanted to know."

He smiled. "Yeah, I like to think that I have the power to turn hot women into crying messes. Not that you're a mess. But you are hot. I should just stop talking."

She grinned. "We'd better finish this, they're going to be back soon."

"Before we do that, can I just say that I love you?" he asked.

"I think so, yes," she said. "I love you too. You're the best boyfriend ever."

After a brief hug, she wiped her face, and they got back to work.

When they were finished, they stepped back to admire their handiwork. They had used most of the pictures, and were pleased with their results.

"Michael just texted to say they're on their way. We need to get this cleaned up!" he announced, throwing his phone onto the table. "How are we going to wrap this?"

Quinn had a plan. "I'm going to wrap it in a sheet and put it under your bed for now," she said. "I saw some huge rolls of wrapping paper at the store the other day, and we can get one of those and wrap the whole thing. It will look amazing. She doesn't usually go under your bed, does she?"

He thought for a moment. "No, we should be good. I'll just tell Dad to tell her to stay away from that area."

As they slid the frame under the bed, they heard keys in the door.

"Just in time," they both said at the same time, as they left his room and closed the door.

**A/N: I know absolutely nothing about Ohio. Maybe there is a Newberry there, and maybe not. For the purpose of this...it is a made-up place name!**

**Hope you enjoyed! Be on the lookout for more holiday-themed oneshots (I include this under "holiday-themed," because they are making a Christmas present!) over the next couple of weeks! If there is anything specific you would like to see, you have to let me know, because, despite the fact that I CAN read minds, I do it very rarely...don't want to invade people's privacy!**

**Also, come join us in the Quartie forum...we are #2 on the list of Glee forums! Also, subscribe to the Quartie Community to be notified every time a story is added to it! The link should be available on my profile, but if you can't find it, message me and I'll direct you there! :)**

**Also #2: In my world, Quinn and Artie are going to be together forever, so naturally it makes sense that he wants her in the family collage.**


End file.
